1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to recirculating ice making equipment used to commercially produce large quantities of ice cubes, and more particularly to an auxiliary water reservoir system adapted to recover otherwise discharged excess water.
2. Description of Related Art
Commercial ice makers such as found in hotels, restaurants and other such commercial business establishments consume large amounts of supply water in order to produce ice cubes at the high rate demanded in commercial settings. These commercial ice makers depend upon a process of spraying or distributing water onto chilled freezer plates or molds wherein a significant amount of that spray water is lost during each freezing cycle and is drained off either back into the water reservoir for discharge or discharged directly into sewer drainage facilities. Each such excess water discharge can amount to tens if not hundreds of gallons of waste water being lost daily. In one actual example, a commercial ice machine has been shown to have wastefully discharged over 25,000 gallons of water yearly.
Ice makers are certified and rated in accordance with ARI Standard 810-91. Test conditions for standard ratings are 90° F. ambient air, 70° F. tap water, and about 30 psig water inlet pressure.
It is well known that productivity of an ice machine is in part a function of its ambient air temperature and of the temperature of the tap water used to make ice. The lower the temperature of the tap water, the higher the ice yield during each ice “harvest”. In the vast majority of existing ice makers, a considerable volume of unused 33°-34° F. cold waste water is now being wastefully discharged at the end of one or more harvest cycles, even though it has long been suggested to utilize the cold energy contained within the cold waste water for pre-chilling its tap water distribution.
Even if the air temperature remains the same, lowering the tap water temperature by about 20° F. can considerably increase the ice yield of the machine. A temperature drop of 30° F. in the summer has been a long-held desire of ice machine owners.
In addition to increasing the ice yield, other tangible benefits will be obtained, including savings on the amount of required floor space for the ice maker, on the cost and installation of the ice maker, and on the operating and maintenance expenses.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,099 to Bosko discloses a recirculating water purification system. Lee et al. teach an icemaker having a water purifier in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/0036115. An automatic ice making machine is taught by Hara in U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,974.
Mitchell et al. disclose an ice maker with magnetic water conditioner in U.S. Pat. No. 6,539,742. An icemaker with water distributor is taught by Barnard et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,580,008. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/0036103 to Bippus et al. discloses a method of operating an ice maker with water quantity sensing which appears to typify the prior art problem.
The present system provides for an auxiliary excess water recovery and reuse system which fully utilizes virtually all of the incoming supply water to produce high volumes of ice cubes from commercial ice making machines.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.